FRIB, East Lansing, Michigan, USA
NSCL, East Lansing, Michigan, USA
The ReAccelerator (ReA) at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory at Michigan State University is a unique facility, as it offers the possibility to reaccelerate not only stable, but rare-isotope beams produced by fast-projectile fragmentation or fission. At ReA, beams are accelerated using a Radio-Frequency-Quadrupole and a superconducting linear accelerator before being delivered to experiments. Beam preparation time plays a major role in the availability of beams to experiments. One of the major time consuming tasks is the linac phasing, since there are 23 resonator cavities to be phased, usually with very low beam intensities. This procedure was automated using a combination of EPICS (Experimental Physics and Industrial Controls System) In/Output Controllers (IOCs) and IOC triggered scripts to scan the resonator phase delay and measure the change in beam energy. We have developed user-friendly tools to phase the linac, which have been tested, making the task of phasing substantially easier. In this presentation, we will present our methodology, challenges faced, tools developed, and initial results of the application for automating the phasing of the ReA linac.
